What Dean Does Best
by ThursdayAngelus
Summary: In which Castiel is turned into a baby, Sam is souless, and Dean is on angel-sitting duty. takes place near the beginning of season 6. no spoilers for later in season 6, though. rated K plus for language.
1. Chapter 1

This had to be a dream. This had to be a dream because this was just too weird, even for the Winchesters. Balthazar had appeared in their current motel room not three minutes ago, and was saying the strangest things that Dean had ever heard in his life- things that were impossible- but the most abnormal part of this picture was the screaming infant in Balthazar's arms.

They were quite an odd group, an angel, a hunter, a soulless shell of a hunter, and the wriggling mass of person in the angel's arms. The child was unleashing a wail that would put a banshee to shame as Balthazar awkwardly held it a foot away from his body, as if it was infected with the Black Plague or something equally unpleasant.

"Dude, I can't hear you!" Dean was shouting over the baby, "I can't hear a damn thing you're saying over your new friend, here." Dean's eyes found the baby for maybe the twelfth time in the last minute. He cocked an eyebrow at the angel. "You've been a bad angel, Balthy."

Balthazar gave him a look that said that all he wanted to do was hurl the little pest at the hunter and effectively kill two annoyances with one stone, but something clearly held him back. That something must have been very important, because the times that the angel ignored his insane impulses were few and far between.

"Just give it to Dean. He's good with kids, believe it or not." Sam sounded annoyed, as if the baby was intentionally screaming just to bother him personally. Balthazar sighed with a relief that told the brothers that this was the best idea he had heard in a millennia.

Before he could protest, Dean had an armful of squirming infant. At his touch, the child quieted, and stilled. "Well that's one thing that hasn't changed," Balthazar remarked, his voice filled with mock surprise.

"What in the world are you talking about? Who is this?" Dean glared at Balthazar as though he wouldn't put it past the angel to kidnap a child.

Balthazar rolled his eyes. "I'm referring to the fact that he still likes you for some unfathomable reason."

"Who still likes me ?"

"Didn't I mention? That's your little stalker."

Sam's jaw hit the floor. "You mean to tell us that that...thing, is Castiel?" Dean's head snapped up to glare at Sam, clearly offended at the thought that a human child was a thing to his not-brother.

"That is exactly what I just said." Balthazar was clinging to his devil-may-care act by a thread, the cracks in his mask telling the brothers that the angel was on the verge of a full blown tantrum.

Dean looked down at the child. He was gazing around the room, wide-eyed and awestruck and so _Cas_ that Dean was surprised he hadn't seen it before. The kid had thick, straight black hair that had a mind of its own, and if that wasn't enough to convince Dean of the truth in Balthazar's words, there were the eyes, piercing and blue and twice as big as they should be. Castiel's eyes locked with Dean's for a moment, confused and intense and- God this was just too much for his brain. Dean's eyes grew wide, and he broke Castiel's gaze and glare accusingly at Balthazar, "What did you do to Cas?"

"Nothing, actually," At Dean's skeptical face, the angel quickly continued with, "I wasn't there for the...transformation. I was sort of, given him."

"By who," Sam cut in.

"By Raphael." he put up his hands in surrender at the sudden anger and betrayal. "I know, shocking, right?" A demand for a further explanation was in both brother's eyes.

Balthazar sighed. "Look, I was just going about my business, following orders and all that, when he appeared. Raphael had Castiel in this form and told me to take him some place that he'd be safe. I asked what happened, and he said that he-" Balthazar made a face. "Changed Castiel into this to end the war." Balthazar grinned devilishly. "He looked so smug, too."

Dean looked at Balthazar blankly. "How does making Cas a baby end heaven's civil war?"

"Well, genius, Castiel was Team Free Will's leader, our sole general. I suppose Raphael thought his army would crumble without his excellent leadership skills." Dean tried to ignore the obvious sarcasm in the remark, allowing Balthazar to continue. "Luckily, he didn't realize that a clear chain of command was established, otherwise, well, I would be dead."

"Why didn't he kill Cas?"

"Because he loves Castiel," Balthazar said simply. "As irritating as the little bugger is, he is relatively popular. 'The Little Angel That Could', and all that. Plenty of our brothers _like_ him, even if half of them are doing their absolute best to off him. Raphael's not like Uriel- he'd would never kill his brother unless he believed there was no other option. And he clearly thought transforming him into a useless child was a good alternative."

Dean still looked confused, "So Cas...fell?" The very idea of his angel losing his grace permanently made Dean shudder and hold the now sleeping bundle just a little bit tighter. The very last thing Dean wanted for his friend was to end up like Anna did, tortured and hunted.

"Well not exactly, so you can relax."

"But... I thought that-"

"Castiel is still an angel. His grace is still there. He just can't use it right now." Balthazar surveyed the pair. "Which is probably a good thing right now, seeing as he's got the brain of an infant."

"Then what exactly did Raphael do?"

Balthazar gave him a look that told Dean that the angel thought this was glaringly obvious, even to a stupid hunter like himself, "He quite literally transformed him into an infant, in every sense."

"So Cas is...a newborn angel?" Dean asked, disbelief coloring his tone. Something like this shouldn't be possible, even in their world. Dean couldn't wrap his head around the idea that Castiel was, in the truest sense of the word... a baby, both as an angel and as a human, was beyond Dean.

"Yes. So," Balthazar clapped his hands together. "Now that we have that out of the way, will you take him?"

"Of course," Dean said. "Absolutely not," Sam said at the same time.

Both the boys glared at each other, as Balthazar rubbed his temples.

Dean would not be taking this bullshit from Not-Sam. They owed Cas, and if they couldn't help him when he needed it most, then Dean didn't deserve to have him as a friend, "Sam, we are keeping him. Do you understand me?"

"Dean, this is stupid, even for us! He's not a pet! He'd need constant care, and even if I wanted to take care of him, we just couldn't."

"And why not, Sam? It's not like he'll be interfering with your beauty sleep."

Sam made a face. "It is not safe for an kid to be around us, Dean. Have you forgotten that we hunt monsters for a living? Or that our grandfather wants to kill us? Or maybe that I still don't have my soul back?"

"It's not like they have an angelic day-care for us to dump him in!" Dean glared at the taller man over the bundle of angel baby and blankets in his arms. "And heaven is clearly out to get him, so until the war is over, Cas is staying right here, with me!" Dean was pissed. All he wanted to do was protect the angel in his arms, keep him safe from all the terrible things that he was sure was about to happen. He wanted it so much it scared him.

He took a steadying breath, "Can we please just put this off until later, please? 'Cause whether you like it or not, Cas needs us." Dean turned to Balthazar, "What do we feed him?"

Balthazar, who had remained silent during the entire exchange, seemed surprised at the question. "I believe that human food will work."

Dean nodded once. "Good. Sam, can you please go to the store and get some formula, bottles, wipes, and diapers. Clothes are probably a good idea, too."

Sam huffed but got up and snatched the keys, "This isn't over, Dean."

"The last time I heard that, I got laid," Dean told his brother. At Sam's look, he made a face. "I get it, okay? Just shut up for a minute and help me." Sam sighed in irritation and left. Balthazar flashed Dean a grateful smile.

"I'll be back to check on him soon," Balthazar turned away from Dean, then stopped, and glance over his shoulder, "Thank you." Then with a flutter of wings, he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

"Can you just shut up?" All Dean wanted to do was slap his brother across the face, "For the last time, Cas is staying with us."

"Dean, be reasonable. If you really are concerned for his safety-"

"Damn right I am."

"-then you should realize that we are not good for him. How would you feel if something happened to him on your watch, Dean? I know you; you would torture yourself over it. And guess what, Castiel isn't worth you dying again."

Dean just hated it when his replacement brother used logic against him. "Like you would care, Sam. Just admit it; you don't want to deal with anything else. Your sick of all of our problems and you aren't human enough to care for somebody else's. So just stop with the attempt of sending me on a guilt trip, because it's not going to work."

"Fine. Just fine. Go ahead and think that I have my own motives, Dean. Why can't you believe that I really do want Cas to be alright?" That lying bastard.

"Because you don't have a conscience, Sam. And you never want to do the right thing anymore. If you want me to get rid of Castiel, it's because of your own motives. And frankly, I do not want you to achieve any of your sick goals." Dean's voice had risen to a high decibel, and Cas twitched. Dean stood up and walked around the motel room, making small shushing noises. Cas's eyes blinked open, the clear blue a stark contrast against his pale skin, "Hey buddy. Did ya have a nice nap?"

Castiel let out a gurgle, a happy noise emanating from the back of his throat. Dean cracked a half smile, despite his annoyance at Sam, Cas was just too darn cute. All he could think was that Cas was going to be impossible when he was changed back, probably ramble on about being eternally grateful. Dean couldn't believe it, but Cas actually looked happy. As if he had not a care in the world. With everything going on in the angel's life, Dean didn't think it was possible for his friend to get a moments rest, "Hey, Sam?"

"Yes, Dean?" Sam's tone of voice was anything but polite.

"Do you think he remembers?"

"Remembers what exactly?" The least Dean could do for his brother's nerves was to be just a little more specific.

"I don't know, anything. Because he looks...calm."

Sam stood up from the table he had been seated at and walked over to his brother. Dean was right, the baby's face was a smooth slate of serenity. The child looked like the most stressful thing that had ever happened in his life was being held by Balthazar, though that seemed like it could very traumatizing: Balthazar was never the nurturing type, not like Dean. Even though Sam could no longer connect to the emotion of those moments, he remembers his childhood full of nights spent in Dean's arms.

His brother always had a way with children. Sam remembers the shifter that the two of them watched, the one they had dubbed Bobby-John. Dean had quickly developed a fondness for the little monster, and would have kept him, had he not have been taken. Sam knew his brother loved kids, and had expected him to want to keep Castiel, but never in a million years did he expect Dean to actually feel for the kid, to actually want Cas' safety, "I'm not sure. Perhaps Raphael wiped his memory when he transformed him."

"Yeah, that would make sense. So you have no idea who I am, do ya bud?" Dean looked softly at Cas, a small sort of sadness in his eyes that was beyond Sam's comprehension. Dean broke the calm silence, "Sam, can he please stay, at least until we find someplace better?"

Although Sam had no care for his brothers pet angel, he decided he should do at least this one favor for Dean, and besides, Dean was right, Cas wasn't going to interrupt his sleep schedule. Sam knows that he owes his life to Dean many times over, and if letting him keep his darling little Cas cleared some of that debt, then Sam was willing to take that sacrifice, "Dean..."

"Yeah?" Dean was looking dreamily at Castiel, as if he was the most precious thing he'd ever seen in his life.

"I guess he can stay," Dean's eyes instantly lit up, never leaving Cas's face as Sam continued, "Just for a little while, okay? We'll talk about this again in...a week. Okay? You got yourself a free week with Castiel. Is that good enough for you?"

"Yeah, Sammy. It's good. Thanks, for letting this go sooner than I thought you would."

"It's nothing. Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go work"

"Work?"

Sam sighed, "Yes Dean, work...on the hunt, you know, the Wendigo?"

"oh, the Wendigo, right," Dean grinned like a kid at Christmas, "Have fun with that."

Sam rolled his eyes and went towards the door. Before leaving, he glanced back, and saw the funniest thing. It was so cute it almost made him sick. Dean was holding Cas, who was making little squealing sounds as Dean poked at his tiny stomach. Sam supposed the squeals were meant to be laughs. He just couldn't stand the plain cuteness of it. Sam gave one last irritated huff, and then hastily left the battered room.

Dean always had a way with children.


	3. Chapter 3

"Just pick one already, Dean," Sam let out an irritated hiss. They had spent the past hour in a baby supply store, pacing up and down the isles filled with various merchandise made for mini-humans. Almost the entire hour had been the most expensive shopping spree Sam Winchester had ever witnessed. The past fifteen minutes, however had been utterly wasted in the car seat and stroller isle.

Dean was thoroughly giving each set a full inspection. He would glance at each one, push all the buttons, and wheel it around a little while. If it passed his inspection, then he would place Castiel inside. Sam had no idea how Dean come to his insane conclusions, but according to him, Cas had to approve of his 'new ride'. "Hey, bud, this one is pretty sweet, huh?" Castiel was currently seated in the god of strollers. It was lined with velvet, and had a freakin' _thermometer_ to tell you whether the internal temperature of the space pod was too high or low. It was even equip with _air bags_ for Christ's sake.

Dean glanced up from Cas, and gave Sam the look. That look said one thing, I want this one. Even worse, it said that Dean had deluded himself into thinking that _Castiel_ wanted the golden chariot. Sam sighed, and looked at the price tag, "You have got to be kidding me."

"What?" Dean sounded offended, as if Sam was insulting his car instead of a stroller that they didn't even own.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe just the fact that the thing costs over four _grand!_ No offense, Dean, but you're not exactly bringing home the bacon."

Dean looked at his not-brother, the puppy eyes on full swing. Even though Sam was immune to their effects, he knew he was not going to win this argument. When it came to his pet angel, Dean was relentless. Sam guessed the price didn't really matter, it's not like the brothers earned the money they spent. Oh the joys of credit card scams. Still, the two shopping carts filled to the brim might be a tad bit overkill.

Even so, Sam nodded. He did agree to a free week of indulgences of Deans sick obsession with taking care of people. And unfortunately for him, that week still had six full days remaining. At Sam's approval of the super stroller, Dean almost literally jumped for joy. Cas squealed.

Never in a million years. That would have been Sam's response to someone had they asked him when Dean would let him drive the Impala. That was until fifteen minutes ago.

Dean had installed the super car seat into the back of his baby, and had just stood there holding Castiel, with an openly conflicted expression on his face. Sam hung his head, and asked the inevitable question, "What is it now? Do you not like it anymore?"

"No! No, I love it...it's just that..."

"Spit it out." Sam could not deal with any more mama drama.

"I don't think he should be in the back seat alone." Dean's eyes glanced downwards, ashamed that he had even considered breaking the physical contact that he had kept up continuously with Castiel since he first held him. Dean hadn't eaten, slept, or used the bathroom for twelve hours. It was mind boggling. He had even driven to the store with one hand on the wheel, the other arm wrapped around a luckily sleeping Cas.

Sam decided to humor his brother, "okay, fine. I'll sit with him." Sam moved to get in the back seat next to Cas's carrier, but Dean quickly stopped him.

"NO!" Sam's eyes widened as Dean continued, "I...I'll sit in the back. You can drive."

Dean might as well have said that the sky was orange. He bent over, and gently laid Castiel down, and buckled him in so securely that Sam thought the baby was on a mission to Mars. "Um, Dean?" Sam hesitated before signing his death warrant, "I'm going to need the keys."

Dean swallowed, as if the act of letting someone else drive his car was physically painful. He was torn between his two crazy obsessions; his beautiful car, and his new baby angel. He just bit his lip, and forked over the keys. Sam was speechless.

One hour and a considerably more cranky Castiel later, the Winchester's had reach their destination.

Bobby's yard was the typical mess, cars and piles of twisted metal laying scattered amok around the yard. It was a miracle Sam found the place, he could barely see out of any of the windows except for his own. He had managed to cram all of the baby shit Dean had bought in the cabin of the Impala, with a few small items squeezed in the trunk. Dean was practically all the way out of his seat, leaning over Cas as a human shield against any potentially dangerous falling items.

Castiel was gazing up at Dean, his great blue eyes starting to tear up, on the verge of a hissy-fit. Sam parked right in front of Bobby's steps, and got out of the cluttered car. He walked around to the passenger side door, pulled out the stroller, and opened the back door for Dean. Dean clambered out, pulling Cas behind him. After a few minutes of fumbling with the baby-limo, Cas was efficiently tied down inside.

Sam walked straight up the steps and knocked on the door, while Dean pushed Cas over to the ramp they had installed when Bobby was stuck in that chair. Bobby answered the door with a smile on his face that was quickly erased at the sight of Sam the soulless wonder, "Hello, Sam. What do ya idjits need now?"

Dean chose that moment to appear with the super stroller, "Nothing much. Just hoping the three of us could spend a night or two. Oh," Dean bent down into his magical diaper bag hanging from the stroller, then reappeared with an already mixed bottle of formula, "Could you heat this up in the microwave? Twenty seconds should do the trick."

Bobby took the bottle, and stepped back to allow the terrible trio inside, "What the hell?" he glanced accusingly at Sam, "Did you go kidnapping children?"

Dean glanced up from trying to unstrap the now whining angel, "Could ya hurry Bobby? He's pretty hungry. Hasn't eaten in three hours now!" Dean gave his pet a genuinely sympathetic look, "I know, bud. I know. Hunger sucks. Bobby?"

Bobby stood in the doorway, his mouth opening and closing repetitively in resemblance to a fish. At Dean's third request, he slowly turned, a little dumbstruck, and wandered into the kitchen. He returned half a minute later to see Dean rocking a now screaming baby, and Sam sitting on the couch rubbing his eyes, as if he wanted to kill the little bugger. Bobby handed the bottle to Dean, who hastily shoved it into Castiel's mouth. The screaming ended, and Bobby found his voice long enough to state the obvious, "That's a baby."

"Give the man a medal," Dean smirked at Bobby, all to aware of the coming tantrum if he couldn't provide a sufficient explanation.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Where the bloody hell did it come from?" Sam sighed as Dean's smirk turned to a full blown grin.

He stroked Cas's hair out of his face, and angled the still eating child to look at Bobby, "Bobby, I'd like to reintroduce you to our friend Castiel, angel of the lord."

Bobby and Cas locked gazes for one moment, and Bobby saw the same intensity present in every look that Dean's angel had ever given him. Dean took away the now empty bottle, and Cas smiled. Bobby's jaw hit the floor.


	4. Chapter 4

Castiel had finally fallen asleep, and now Bobby was going to get his answers, "What the hell happened to him?"

Dean patently explained the events of the night before; how Balthazar had shown up with Castiel, begged for the brothers to take him, then Dean managing to get a week of play time. Through the entire tale, Sam just sat there, clearly pissed off, and glared evilly at his brother, "Dean hasn't put him down since he got him last night," that damn snitch.

Bobby just rolled his eyes, "okay boys, I'll go clear out the spare room. We'll use it as a temporary nursery. Come on, Dean." Dean just sat on the couch, not moving, with Cas in his arms, "Boy, you gotta put him down eventually. When was the last time you ate something?"

Dean looked down and mumbled, "Lunch..."

At first Bobby thought it wasn't that bad. It was only shortly past dinner time. So if Dean was eating late, it was unusual, but not unheard of. Then Sam had to go shatter any illusions Bobby had of everything being okay by saying, "He means lunch time _yesterday._"

Bobby stood in the middle of the room for a moment, speechless. If Dean missing a meal was unheard of, then Dean missing_ four _meals was just impossible. Before Dean could deny hunger, his stomach growled, betraying him. Dean sighed, "Okay, maybe I am a little hungry," Bobby raised his eyebrows, "or maybe I'm really hungry. The point is, I'm not putting Cas down where that thing-" he jerked his hand towards his brothers impersonator, "-can get him."

"Dean, what do you think I am going to do, stick him on the oven?" Sam's tone was sarcastic, but the look on his face made it seem like that was a very tempting idea. Dean's eyes flashed and he glared at Bobby, screaming a silent _I told you so._ Bobby saw that he had two options: humor Dean's insanity, or force the kid to take a break. He chose the later.

It had taken over an hour to convince Dean that Castiel would be just as safe in Bobby's arms as he would be in Dean's. After threatening his surrogate father with acts of unspeakable torture, Dean had went into the kitchen to shove as much food down his throat that he could physically manage. Then he had returned to the living to beg for his angel back, but Bobby wouldn't budge. He had commanded Dean to take a shower and get some sleep. Dean tried to protest, but was thwarted with assurances that Cas would be taken care of, and that Bobby would wake him if the angel got even the smallest bit upset.

Of course that it was during those precious moments of rest that Dean stole that something happened. And something was another angel, this one fully grown. Balthazar had magically appeared in Bobby's sitting room, with nothing but a faint flutter of wings to announce his arrival. Sam took one look at him, then just rolled his eyes. Bobby, on the other hand, visibly jumped, startling Castiel. Cas let out a quiet little wail that an ordinary human being wouldn't hear while they were sleeping. But of course, Dean heard it. When Dean's footsteps were heard upstairs moving at record speed, Bobby gave the uninvited angel a death look.

"I thought you said you'd wake me if he got fussy!"

Any other complaint the older Winchester had was wiped clean from his mind when he saw Balthazar standing in the middle of the room, "Hello boys! I see you talked your brother over here into keeping Cassy," He smiled at Dean.

Dean just ignored the angel and strode across the room to retrieve Castiel from Bobby. At the sight of his friend, Cas let out a high pitched squeal of baby laughter. Dean grabbed the flailing mass of angel and sat down on Bobby's couch, poking and tickling and smiling at Cas while waiting for Balthazar to just get on with it. As far as the brothers knew, Balthazar and Castiel were the only angels in the history of the universe who had emotions, and the current emotion on Balthazar's face was joy. He loved the spotlight, and was a too glad to keep Dean waiting. Dean of course, was not about to give the angel the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of him.

So instead of asking the flamboyant angel why he'd come, Dean just continued playing with Cas. Balthazar stood still, waiting for acknowledgement he would never receive if Dean had anything to say about it. After five minutes, neither of them showed any signs of giving in. Dean was still sitting on the couch with Castiel, and Balthazar stood in the corner, trying his best to be stoic.

Ten minutes into the angel's surprise visit, and one of Bobby's phones rang. Bobby left the almost silent room to answer it.

Three minutes later, Bobby re-enters the room with news of a hunt. A friend of his in North Dakota had found a Vampire nest. It was a pretty decent sized one, too big for one hunter to handle, but not too large for a small group to take care of. Bobby said that he was going, and offered for the boys to come with him. Sam jumped at the opportunity to escape from his mama-bear of a brother, telling Dean that Cas wouldn't be safe and that he should stay put. Dean quickly agreed.

An hour after that, Sam and Bobby had managed to move all of the baby supplies from the Impala into Cas' new room with Dean's supervision; Balthazar followed him around like a silent shadow.

Four minutes later, Sam and Bobby left.

Then, Dean finally lost his patience. He turned to the now fidgeting Balthazar, "Okay, what?"

Balthazar smiled, "I tracked down Raphael."

"And?"

"He told me exactly what he did to Cassy," Dean hated that nickname.

"Are you going to tell me or just stand there, gloating?" Dean hated how long Balthazar was attempting to drag this out.

"Well, he said that he simply reversed the clock on him." At Dean's confused look, he continued. "that means that Cas was tuned into an infant, and lost his memories. Now, it's not some spell or incantation that we can reverse, so we just have to wait until he grows out of it."

Dean was so not enjoying this, "What do you mean, 'grows out of it?'"

Balthazar looked like he wanted to hit Den for being so stupid. But instead, he settled for rolling his eyes and trying to dumb it down for the older Winchester. "Okay, listen. He's a baby. He needs to grow up- again- and return to full strength. Now I'm guessing that since he's living on Earth, Castiel will grow up in human years instead of angelic years. So it will happen considerably faster than the first time around."

Dean tried to sort through the psychotic angel's speech. One thing seemed to stand out, "What do you mean, angel years and human years?"

Balthazar just sighed. "Well, in heaven, Earth time passes really quickly. For example, I don't even know how old I am according to your calender, but in angel years, I'm about-"

"How old is Cas?"

"In human years? A few millennia. In angel years, he's only fifteen."

And that was when Dean really lost it, "Fifteen? Fifteen! What the hell do you mean, he's only FIFTEEN? You let a god-damn TEENAGER command your army?"

For a moment, Balthazar was a little shocked that this human would dare to yell at him. He thought Dean was finished, but realized he was mistaken when Dean shoved Castiel into his super stroller and buckled him in. Cas just stared back and forth between his brother and friend, like he was watching a game of table tennis. Balthazar stood in the middle of the room, watching as Dean stormed around it like a wild animal

"What is wrong with you people? How could you- how could ANYONE let a LITTLE KID GO TO WAR? WHATS WRONG WITH YOU? WHAT IF HE HAD GOTTEN HURT? DON'T YOU GIVE A DAMN-"

Dean had just crossed the line. "Yes I give a damn! He's my little brother for Christ's sake. How dare you? You are just an insignificant little worm, on a planet filled with billions just like you, and you dare tell me, an all-mighty angel of the lord, that I was using poor judgement. You better watch your mouth Dean Winchester, because I DO have the power to drag your insignificant ass to hell. And this time, Castiel isn't able to protect you."

Dean stood, frozen, a foot away from Balthazar's face, his mouth gaping open. He couldn't believe that the angel who always liked to seem in perfect control of every situation had just blown up like that. People expected that type of blind rage from Dean, but never from an angel. It looked like Balthazar really did love his brother.

The two of them stood like that for who knows how long. Eye to eye, trying their best to force as much hatred and loathing into one look as they could. Eventually, Castiel realized that no one was holding him. He whined, and both men snapped their heads towards him and tried to go to his rescue. Dean beat the angel to Cas, of course, but not for Balthazar's lack of trying. Maybe Balthazar and Dean were more alike than either of them thought.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam and Bobby had been gone for three days. And Dean was pissed. Not because he missed his not brother or wanted Bobby to help him with Cas. No, he was seriously pissed off because Balthazar wouldn't leave him alone.

After the two of them had exploded at each other, Balthazar had vanished and hadn't reappeared for three hours. Then he had reappeared and stood in the middle of Bobby's library and watched Dean's every move. Dean, who was in n hurry to die, ignored the angel. For the most part, that is.

He would respond whenever Balthazar spoke, and that was often. Balthazar would ask questions. Not school like questions, but nervous-parent-talking-to-a-baby-sitter questions. Like, 'how often does he eat?' or 'shouldn't he be asleep by now?' At first Dean didn't mind. But now it was really staring to get on his nerves.

Whenever Cas would cry, or even whine, Balthazar would turn as still as a statue, as if Castiel was a motion activated bomb and any movement would cause him to explode. As long as he lived, Dean would never tell the angel how funny he looked.

Dean had finally detached himself from Cas enough that he could put him in his crib when he took a nap. But of course, Dean sat in a chair next to him, and wouldn't move. This wasn't very good for Dean, though, because he didn't sleep. The first night Balthazar was there, he stood in the doorway of Castiel and Dean's room and watched the hunter care for his little brother.

The second night, he spoke.

"Go to sleep Dean. I'll watch him."

Dean wanted to protest, but decided to try to stay on the insane angel's good side. He stood slowly from the chair by Castiel's crib. He took as step back toward his bed, as Balthazar took a step forwards towards Cas.

Dean reached his bed. Balthazar reached the chair. They stared at each other for a moment, as if daring the other to talk. Neither of them did. They both sat.

Balthazar turned away from Dean and peered down into Cas' crib. His gaze softened and he whispered something so softly, that Dean couldn't hear it. All he could hear was a faint mummer, with a tone filled with sorrow and guilt. But most of all, love. Turns out, Balthazar really does have emotions.

Dean was determined not to fall asleep. But he hadn't sleep properly since they got Cas on Friday night. And today was...Monday? Dean couldn't remember.

All he knew was that his bed was comfy, the room was dark, Cas was safe, and he was absolutely _not_ going to fall asleep.

Ten minutes after he laid down, he was snoring.

* * *

><p>On the third day, Dean woke up because his phone was ringing. He rolled over to grab it off of his side table, and missed the call. He dialed the voice mail.<p>

"Hey, Dean, it's Sam. Just calling to let you know that me and Bobby have finished up here and should be back by tomorrow morning. Bye." that was Robo-Sam for ya: right to the point.

Dean closed his phone and sat up, rubbing his eyes. It was only then that he realized he had be _asleep_ while he was supposed to be watching _Cas!_ He leaped out of bed and ran over to the crib, only to find it empty. His heart stopped.

The first thought to enter his head was _demons._ Then he realized it could be other angels, even worse. He turned on his heels and ran from the room and down the hall. He leaped down the stairs three at a time, almost tripping halfway down. He stalked into the kitchen, and almost ran into Balthazar.

Dean froze, and took in the sight before him. Balthazar was holding a giggling Castiel in his arms. Cas was preoccupied trying to rip out his older brother's hair. If Dean hadn't been recovering from a heart attack, he would have teased Balthazar and tried to take a picture. But instead he reached for Cas and grabbed him right out of the angel's arms.

Balthazar just looked surprised to see the hunter standing there, and nodded a 'good morning'. Dean clutched Castiel close and said, "Hey buddy, you scared me there."

Balthazar rolled his eyes. Cas slowly raised his arm. Then his arm shot out and grabbed a hold of Dean's eyebrow. Dean yelped. Balthazar laughed, and Castiel squealed.

Later that day, Dean was eating dinner, and Balthazar was entertaining Cas by making his milk change colors. It had gone from white to blue, to bright magenta, and so on. Balthazar suddenly stood up and practically threw Cas at Dean.

"Dude, what the hell?"

"I have to go."

"Okay, why?"

Balthazar looked like he would like nothing better than to legally make stupidity worthy of capital punishment, "Listen genius. I. Have. A. War. To. Run. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, but-"

"Do you want your brother's soul back or what?"

Dean just sat there, his mouth hanging open in shock. He was getting his Sammy back? This was all happening so fast. His brain couldn't process it. He was about to ask Balthazar to explain himself. But before he got the chance, the angel vanished. Leaving him alone with Cas and a surge of questions.

He was going to kill that angel.


	6. Chapter 6

Balthazar had left Dean sitting at the kitchen table, Castiel in his arms, and three hours later, that's were he still was. The hunter wasn't sure what to do, so he just played with his little angel. Cas was a very grabby little thing. He like to pull Dean's hair and bottom lip. He also thought that squeezing Dean's nose was funny.

"Can you say Dean?" Cas tipped his head to one side, looking confused "Come on bud, you're gonna have to talk sooner or later. Say Dean." At this, Castiel let out another squeal of baby laughter, "Oh, so my name is funny now?" Castiel's reply was another squeal, at this, Dean laughed.

The two spent the rest of the evening playing at the kitchen table, only pausing when Cas was in need of a bottle or diaper change. The whole time, Dean was expecting Balthazar to appear and say something stupid, then hand over Sammy's soul, but the angel never came.

* * *

><p>Dean woke up to find himself on Bobby's couch, laying flat on his back. Castiel was laying on his stomach atop Dean's chest. It was a complete kodack moment. He wondered why he woke up, and heard the slamming of a car door as an answer. Before he leaped up and grabbed a shot gun, he heard Bobby's voice. So Dean relaxed, grateful that he didn't wake Cas for no reason.<p>

But when Sam stormed into the house, the door slamming open, Dean lost all hope of a quiet morning. Sam looked pissed, "I mean, really Bobby? Why couldn't you have just let me drive? Then we wouldn't have had to stop at that damn motel for the night, and then you would still have your car!"

Dean sighed when Castiel blinked awake, and stared intently into Dean's eyes before letting out an ear splitting scream. The angel stopped when Dean got up to make his bottle. Now Dean was pissed, "Sam, what the hell?"

"Shut up, both of you!" Bobby yelled as he walked in the door, "idjits."

"Why does Sam look more murderous than usual?" Dean could not take any more drama.

Bobby looked just as ticked off as the Not-Sam, "Last night, while we were in or motel room, someone stole my car." Sam stormed off into the kitchen and returned a moment later with Dean's wallet.

Now it was Dean's turn to be mad, "Dude, what the hell?" Sam just stared at Dean confusedly, so Dean had to state the obvious. "That's my wallet. Get your own."

"I had my own, Dean. I left it in Bobby's car. Along with my laptop. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get a new one."

Bobby just glared at Sam, "Do you have to go right this second?"

"Yes I do. And you have no right to be upset. This is your own damn fault."

"How is it my fault, Sam?"

Dean decided he was just going to stay out of this one. Sam just frowned and said simply, as if stating the most common knowledge in the world. "Because if you had let me drive, we wouldn't have needed to stay at that motel. We would have been back here last night. But instead we had to steal someone else's car because all of our money was left in yours!" At this Bobby had no reply, and Sam looked smug.

Dean was about to ask them if they were finished their bitch fits, but he never got the chance. Sam turned toward Bobby's front door, Dean's wallet still in hand. He was clearly going to ignore his family and buy a new electronic friend. But Sam never made it to the door. In fact he only took one step before the room was filled with light.

The light appeared out of no where. It was pure white and powerful. It grew in intensity at an incredible speed, as if it's goal was to erase all darkness from the world. Less than a second after it's appearance, it grew to bright to bear. Dean squeezed his eyes shut. Bobby turned his head and covered his face in the crook of his arm. Cas twisted around in Dean's arms and stared directly into the centre of the light, a huge grin plastered on his tiny face. Then the light dimmed slightly, but not enough for the humans to take notice. Castiel was starring directly at something inside of the light. And as it dimmed he raised his chubby little arm, and waved.

Just as suddenly as it appeared, the light vanished.

Dean blinked his eyes open to see Bobby doing the same thing a few feet away. He looked at Cas to see that his little angel was sporting a huge smile that stretched from ear to ear, his blue eyes wide with joy. "What was that buddy?" Cas just kept on smiling.

Dean's eyes were still adjusted as he glanced around the room. He instantly began to panic when he didn't see his brother, "Sam?" No answer. "SAM?" Still nothing. Dean glanced around frantically. That's when he spotted his brother flat on his back in the doorway between the Kitchen and library, seemingly unconscious. "SAMMY!"

Dean practically threw the still smiling baby at Bobby, and collapsed to the ground at his brothers side. He looked down at Sam's face, only to see a neon orange post-it stuck to his brother's forehead. Dean peeled it off, and read the message scrawled in messy black sharpie.

**Ran out of skittles. Catch ya in a few.**

** - Judy**

"What in the world.." That was all Bobby had managed to say after reading the mysterious post-it note. Dean just shrugged, having no clue who this Judy person was, and whether she was responsible for the light. More importantly, he wanted to know if Judy was friendly. But most of all, Dean needed to know what had just happened to his Sammy.

Bobby fastened Castiel into his stroller, and then helped Dean move Sam onto the couch. The younger Winchester was so tall that his feet hung of the end. Dean took Castiel upstairs for his mid-day nap, then returned downstairs to pace around the room, waiting for Sam to awaken.

An hour past, and still Sam remained unconscious. Dean became even more worried than before, if that was even possible. He was never more grateful in his life to hear the sound of wings behind him. Dean whipped around and spat accusingly, "Where have you been?"

Balthazar just shrugged and said, "I was busy."

"With what, exactly?"

"Uh, I don't know...a war?"

"Then what's wrong with Sammy?" The look on Dean's face was pure desperation.

"Oh, it worked?" Balthazar glanced over at the sleeping brother, "That's good."

This angel really needed to learn how to be more specific, "What worked?"

"Sam has his soul back." Dean wanted to jump for joy, but worry quickly overloaded the excitement.

"So why is he like that? And what the hell was that weird light?"

"He will be fine Dean, he just need's to put himself back together again. And as for the light, that was the delivery angel."

"Huh?"

"I was busy, I sent someone else to deliver Sam's soul. Why didn't she explain this to you?"

Thing's were finally starting to click in to place for the elder Winchester brother, "Was her name Judy?" Balthazar nodded, and Dean handed him the post-it note.

"SKITTLES! AGAIN? I am going to KILL that girl!"

And with that,the angel vanished. Dean huffed out a sigh. What was up with these angel?


	7. Chapter 7

Sam was laying down, he knew that much. His eyes were tightly shut, and he felt like he had just woken up from a very long dream. He was awake and alert, but yet somehow disoriented. His head kind of hurt, like he had hit it against something hard. None of this made and sense to him.

He tried to remember where he was. In the Impala? No, this didn't feel like the backseat of Dean's car. A motel, perhaps? This didn't feel like a bed, either. Bobby's house? Yes, that was it. He was on Bobby's couch.

But how did he get there?

Sam though hard about the day before, it was unclear, foggy, like a dream. But one detail stood out painfully clear. A light. Bright, white, and powerful. He could have sworn that there was a figure inside; that within the torrent of white he had caught flashes of orange.

He tried to remember beyond the light. He recalled a sudden warmth, then the sensation of falling. The last thing he heard was Dean calling his name. Dean! Where was his brother?

Sam's eyes snapped open.

"Sammy?" that was Dean's voice, so Dean was okay. Sam took a breathe of relief, "Hey, Sammy. How you feeling?"

Sam turned his head towards his brother's concerned voice and saw his brother standing a few feet away from the couch, peering down at him, "I'm fine, Dean. What- how did- what happened?"

Dean smiled at his brothers confusion, "You came back to us Sammy."

"What do you...Oh! You mean that I have a soul again?"

"That's exactly what I mean, Sam," Dean was grinning ear to ear now.

"How?"

"Balthazar."

Sam just looked even more confused than before.

"How much do you remember, Sam? Of the past year or so."

"Not much. Just bits and pieces, really. I know that someone brought me back, and I saved you from a Jinn. After that, I remember Castiel told us I didn't have my soul...And Crowley had it!" Sam paused, trying hard to recall the time spent as Robo-Sam, "And there was something about a man named Samuel...I think he was our grandfather, Dean!"

Dean nodded. He decided to only tell his brother what was necessary, "Well, Samuel is a jerk, who is working for Crowley. And unfortunately for us, the apocalypse isn't completely over." Sam looked horror-struck at that, so Dean hurriedly continued, "Michael and Lucifer were stopped thanks to you, but some angel's want to let them back out. So Cas and a few less-dickish angels teamed up and are currently fighting a civil war in heaven."

Sam nodded slowly, that sounded familiar. But one thing didn't make sense, "And this Balthazar. Who is he?"

"Well isn't that hurtful!" A man had just walked into the living room. He looked faintly familiar, but Sam couldn't name from where. But judging from his reaction, this had to be Balthazar.

As Balthazar walked farther into into the room, Dean answered his little brother's question, "This is Balthazar. He's one of Cas' friends."

"Brother, actually," Balthazar interjected, sounding irritated.

"You're an angel?"

"Bingo."

Sam looked kind of nervous at this development. Dean didn't blame him. Other than Cas, every angel the brothers had met had wanted them dead or worse, as vessels.

"It's alright, Sam. He's one of Castiel's solders."

Sam visibly relaxed at this. Balthazar looked annoyed that he was considered to belong to his whinny little brother.

A small crying sound was heard upstairs. Sam was puzzled. What n the world could be crying like that in Bobby's house. Speaking of Bobby, where was he? Before Sam had a chance to inquire the whereabouts of his surrogate father, both Dean and Balthazar froze. They looked at each other. No, that's not right. They didn't look, they glared.

Some silent exchange was made in that glare, because less than a second after they locked gazes they broke apart and sprinted for the stairs. Sam leapt to his feet and followed his brother and the peculiar angel. They ran up the stairs, Dean and Balthazar fighting the whole way. If Sam didn't know any better, he would have said that his brother was _racing_ the angel. The idea was ridiculous, but that's what it looked like.

Balthazar tripped Dean who, fell down three steps before recovering. By the time he was back on his feet, Balthazar was already at the top of the stairs, arms raised in victory. But the angel did not stop to gloat, he continued running at a slightly less frantic pace.

Dean turned around and stormed down the steps to his befuddled younger brother. Sam blinked, the started, "Dean, what the hell just happened?"

Dean seemed at a loss for words. He stood at the foot of the stairs, mouth open, trying to find a way to explain why he had just raced an angel to the top of Bobby's stairs, "Well, Cas just woke up..."

"Cas? Since when does he sleep?"

Dean pretended not to hear him, "And me and Balthazar both wanted to go get him...so we kind of...raced there." Dean looked ashamed, like he was expecting a scolding.

Sam had no clue what was going on. He just took a deep breath, and walked back to the living room. Dean followed him, and Balthazar was heard coming down the stairs. Sam listened for the second set of footsteps that would belong to Castiel, but couldn't make them out.

Balthazar walked into the room, "Dean, where did you put his bottle?"

"On the side table, _Balthy._"

Balthazar sneered at Dean and walked over to the side table, snatching up a small bottle full of milk. He then proceeded to shove it into the mouth of the infant in his arms. Wait a minute. Infant? Sam had absolutely no clue how a baby had ended up in Bobby's living room. In the arms of an angel, no less.

"Um, Dean?"

"Yeah, Sammy?"

Sam gestured toward the feeding child, "Who is _that_?"

Dean looked extremely nervous now, "Well, don't freak out, okay?"

Sam nodded.

"That's Cas."

"What?" This made absolutely no sense at all. Castiel is a baby? Impossible. But then again, those eyes... "How?"

Balthazar jumped into the conversation at this point, and explained the situation that Castiel had landed himself in. Sam was beyond confused, but now he understood that Cas really was that baby. There was only one question left, "How do we fix him?"

"We don't," Balthazar stated.

"What?" Cas finished with his bottle, and Dean took him out of his brothers arms, then proceeded to walk around the room, burping the baby.

Balthazar looked pissed that he had to explain this, "It's not reversible. He simply has to grow up back to original age. Unfortunately, he lost all of his memories other than the identities of his siblings. That's why he likes me."

"How old was he? Like, thirty-something?"

"No, Castiel's _vessel _was that age. Cassy himself is fourteen."

"Fourteen?" Dean caught his brother's eye and gave him _the look_. The look that said 'don't go there'. Sam listened to it. This angel seemed very testy, as if one wrong move would set him off on a rampage. Balthazar continued with his explanation, "Yes. So in fourteen years time, he will be returned to exactly the way he was before this incident...Minus the memory, of course."

Sam nodded. He could live with that. There was only one big puzzle left, "So, Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's Bobby?"

At this Dean grimaced, "At the police station."

"What? Why?"

"He's filling out a lost car form."

Sam didn't know what to say to that, so he just shook his head and asked Dean a question that was probably going to get him killed, "Can I hold Cas?"


	8. Chapter 8

It's official, Sam is insane. Dean love having his brother back, but the research queen had to go. When he was told his laptop was stolen, he immediately went to the nearest electronics store to buy a brand new one. That wouldn't have been so bad, except Sam had decided to use his new best friend to learn everything about babies there was to know.

Sam would constantly interrupt both Dean and Balthazar to tell them the _correct _way to do things that they had been doing perfectly fine without the younger Winchester's assistance. So most days, Balthazar had his 'don't make me smite you' look on, and Dean would try to hide in Castiel's room with his angel. Bobby just tried to keep Sam busy with work around the house, saying that they had to child-proof it. Sam took the assingment very seriously, and within a week's time, Bobby's house was cleaner than it had been in decades. Well, except for the baby toys thrown all over the place.

Castiel seemed to love all of his caretakers, but Dean was clearly his favorite. He was content to sit in Dean's arms for hours at a time, only whining when he was hungry. When he grew tired, he was content to fall asleep with his face buried in Dean's neck, gripping the man's shirt sleeve with a tiny fist. Sam thought that it was adorable, but would never in a million years dream of telling his brother so.

Balthazar wold show up every other day or so for a few hours, and that was the only time Cas wanted Dean to put him down. The little angel would start wailing and push away from his human with all his might, trying to go to his big brother. Balthazar would take Cas and play games that only angels could. Such as bringing the toys to life and having them dance around the room on their own accord, whilst informing the hunters of the progress of the angel war.

Bobby mostly avoided the baby, simply out of fear of agitating Dean or Balthazar. But on the rare occasions that he was handed the angel, he would just hold him gently and make little cooing noises that lulled Cas to sleep.

Castiel was a month old now, and still Sam hadn't held him. When he asked the first time, Dean had simply said, "not now," and Sam sensed he had done something wrong. So he decided that he wouldn't risk his brother's anger by asking again. He thought that if he just waited, someone would offer. He was in for a long wait.

Since he had never spent any playtime with the Sam, Castiel wasn't quite sure what to make of him. He would turn his head and stare at him, as if waiting for the tall man to do something worthy of his attention.

The first physical contact Sam had with the angel was when Cas was almost two months old. Sam was sitting at the kitchen table, looking up stuff on his laptop. Dean walked by him, Castiel in his arms. Before either brother had time to react, Cas lurched sideways, shot out a small hand, and snagged a fistful of Sam's hair.

"Ow!"

"He thinks you're a girl too, Sammy!" Dean started to roar with laughter as Sam tried to free his hair from the child's surprisingly strong grasp.

A few weeks after that, Bobby was out on a hunt, Balthazar was in heaven, and Dean had to go to the bathroom. Instead of going to get Cas' super-stroller, Dean simply handed the angel to a stunned Sam without a single word. Sam was smart enough not to question it.

Sam sat down on the couch, angel in hand. They locked gazes, trying to figure each other out. The stare lasted for several moments, before Cas blinked and looked confused. Sam wasn't sure what compelled him to do what the did, but he stuck out a finger and poked the baby right in the middle of his nose. Castiel went crossed-eyed, trying to see the location where this strange man's finger had assaulted him. The look on Cas' face made Sam laugh. Upon hearing the laughter, Cas broke his cross-eyed stare and hesitated for a moment, before letting out a joy filled squeal of his own.

Sam soon lost track of time, for he was occupied poking the angel in various locations to make him laugh. Eventually, though, Dean just walked into he room, handed his brother a warm bottle, and walked out. That's when Sam knew that he had finally earned enough trust back to watch Dean's darling little angel. That knowledge made him feel more loved than he had in a long time.

* * *

><p>As more time passed, Dean seemed to unofficially retire from hunting. He never said that he was finished, but he hadn't been on a hunt since they got Castiel, and he was now six months old. No one said anything about it, but it seemed that Dan was finished hunting until Cas could fend for himself. Sam and Bobby would still hunt, though, and Bobby was almost always on hunter dispatch duty.<p>

Cas was now eating baby food. It seemed he loved anything sweet, like sweet potatoes and carrots. The sugar addiction apparently ran in the angels family, with how Gabriel used to eat, and the mysterious Judy who ditched them for skittles.

The baby often refused to eat any of the meat, which annoyed Dean to no end. He would often exclaim, "If this kid turns out to be a vegetarian, I will kill you, Sam!"

Then Sam would reply, "How is it my fault?"

"You and your damn hippy vibes are contagious."

At that Sam would just smile and roll his eyes. He now remembered a lot more of his time spent as a soulless automaton, and realized that Dean was just glad to have his Sammy back, 'hippy vibes' and all.

* * *

><p>Cas was nine months old by the time December rolled around. It was a warm winter, and they had yet to have any snow. That is, until the first week of December...then they had a blizzard.<p>

Cas was being held by Dean as the pair looked out the kitchen window. The angel seemed mesmerized by the snow, as if it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen in his life. Cas leaned towards the window, trying to pull Dean out to the snow.

"Sorry, bud. You're not going out this year."

Cas glared at his human murderously, as if to say, "You'll regret those words, mortal."

Sam snickered as Dean blinked in amusement, "I'm sorry, okay? But you don't want to get sick now, do you?"

Castiel continued his evil glare for one more moment, then quickly snapped into a devilish, Gabriel-like grin. Both Sam and Dean stared warily at the angel. Suddenly, without any warning the window flew open. Dean gasped, Sam jumped, and Cas just laughed. Snow poured over to the opening, and wind swooped into the kitchen, flinging papers and glasses around wildly. Sam ran over to the window and slammed it down then locked it.

"Dean, what the hell just happened?"

Dean just shock his head in bewilderment. Cas was laughing madly, grabbing the snow that had collected in Dean's hair, and starring in amazement as it melted in his hands. Both brother's reached the same conclusion, "Bad boy, Cas."

The angel just put on a sweet smile, and Sam went to get a mop to clean p the rapidly melting snow that was now covering the kitchen. That kid was going to be a handful.


	9. Chapter 9

_We're going to go broke,_ Sam thought bitterly, then added, _well, more broke then usual,_ as an after thought. It was two weeks until Christmas, and Dean had completely lost his mind. The guy who used to be The Grinch was know spending all of their money on anything that had to do with the god-forsaken Holiday.

Sam finally plucked up the courage to say something, "Um, Dean?"

"Yeah Sammy?" Dean was only paying half a mind to his brother, for he was preoccupied in trying to hang Christmas decorations all over Bobby's house. Bobby didn't seem to mind, but was secretly wondering where he would store all the extra lights and various other merchandise over the rest of the year.

"Don't you think this a bit much?" he gestured towards the house around him; not an inch wasn't covered in something Christmas-like, but Dean was still making trips to the store for more.

"Not at all, Sammy-boy."

"But, Dean... he's not even gonna remember this!"

"So?"

"_So?_" this was getting ridiculous.

"Yeah, so. What's your point?"

"This a waste of time."

Now it was Dean's turn to look annoyed, "No, it's not Sam. This is Cas' first Christmas."

That was when Sam decided it was a lost cause. When it came to Castiel, nothing was to expensive for Dean. So instead of arguing further, he just shrugged and walked over to the door, he put on his jacket as Dean looked from his work, startled, "Where are you going?"

Sam just grinned, "To get the tree."

Sam had driven down the half-plowed streets until he reached to local flower shop that had been converted to a Christmas tree store for the season. The snow had come down in an almost continuos flow for the week, and now was four feet deep in places. This would have been a major problem for anyone other than Sam Winchester, who was suddenly grateful for his abnormal height.

He walked around the small lot, looking for the perfect tree- or in other words, the one that would pass Dean's inspection. It took him a half hour, but he finally found the perfect fit. It was the right height for Bobby's living room, and was very full, but not to fat. Sam was very proud of himself.

When he dragged it into the house, Dean looked at him, and practically jumped for joy. He quickly passed Castiel to Bobby. Instead of helping like Sam had expected, Dean simply nodded and said, "Over here Sam."

Sam was furious that his brother would treat him like a pack mule, but did as he was ordered, regardless. It took ten minutes for the brothers to agree on a location for the tree. Sam had wanted to place it in the corner so they didn't need to decorate all of it, while Dean had wanted it in the middle of the newly cleaned room so he could go crazy with the decorations. After the disagreement had escalated into a full-blown argument, Bobby had stalked into the room, Castiel in hand, and just shouted, "Just put it in front of the damn window!" Cas had laughed. Seeing the dumbstruck expression on both the boy's faces, Bobby shook his head and walked back into the kitchen, muttering, "Idjits."

After picking the exact placement of the tree and dragging it over, Sam realized they were missing something rather important. He turned to his brother, "Do you have to tree stand?"

Dean hung his head and groaned, then went to ask Bobby.

Sam was left holding the tree.

An hour or so later, Sam was relieved of his heavy load and was instead handed the squirming form of angel, "He's getting pretty cranky, Sammy. Can you go put him down?" Sam nodded and headed up the stairs.

* * *

><p>Christmas eve came around and Dean remained in the most obnoxious state of joy, while Sam was just glad his brother was happy. Bobby tried to act like he missed his peace and quiet, but truthfully, he was thrilled to have company over the holidays again.<p>

The tree was ornately decorated. Glass icicles, and tinsel on almost every branch, with large rainbow light-bulb strings wrapping around it. When the lights turned on, the colors glinted off of the glass and metal of the various other decorations, making the entire room glow with color.

Underneath the shimmering tree was a hoard of presents. Dean had gone shopping again, and apparently went all out...again. Dean had insisted on doing all the wrapping by himself, even though Cas wouldn't understand the concept of unwrapping the presents. But even though Dean wanted it all wrapped, he still bitched while he was doing it, and refused any help. Sam thought that his brother had gotten him presents, too. The thought made him smile.

Castiel had just gone to bed, as it was nearly midnight. The three men where sitting in the living room, starring at the hypnotically chaotic tree. Suddenly, an extra glow was added. Dean jerked his eyes up to the top of the tree and gasped. Where a white glitter star had once been there was now an angel. It wasn't a living angel, but seemed life like enough that it was a little disturbing.

Her eyes were wide in a warm expression, as if laughing. But instead of a laugh, her lips were pressed into a thin smirk. Dean wondered at the conflicting images, then realized, she _was_ laughing. The angel was laughing with her eyes. Those eyes were a marvel on their own...they were the exact same startling shade of dark crystal as Castiel's.

Dean drew his eyes away from her's and took in the rest of the figure. Her hair was an alarming shade of orange, an almost neon color that conflicted strongly with her dark green dress. The most interesting part were the wings, though. They looked to be real feathers, and were a pure shinning white that stood out against the green of the dress. But if you stared at them long enough, which Dean did, you would begin to wonder if they were really white. It seemed that the white was made of other colors swirling around and mixing, colliding to cancel each other out, leaving only the white behind. Hints of purple, ghosts of blue, shadows of red, whispers of yellow, all coming together to form the purest white ever seen. The whole statue seemed to be glowing. It was a wonder to behold.

The three of them just sat on bobby's couch for the longest time, in awe of the likeness of an angel they had suddenly found before them, before Dean realized he had something in his hand.

It was an over-grown stocking, a bright crimson color, filled to the brim with god-knows-what. It was extremely heavy. Dean peered into the mouth of it, to see the opening blocked with construction paper the exact same shade of green as the angel's dress. It was almost as if the two were cut from the same material. But that was impossible, this was paper, whilst the dress appeared to be a form of velvet. Dean shook his head to clear it and unfolded the paper.

Startled from the sudden movement, Sam and Bobby tore their gazes away from the statue to read the letter over Dean's shoulders.

_Dean,_

_ I guess I should have started with 'Dear Dean', but that just seemed too formal, don't you agree?Well, Merry Christmas! I'm sorry that I didn't stick around last time, but I was down to under a thousand skittles in my store, and I am not the best person to be around when I don't have my sugar supply. Only give Castiel the orange ones; they're his favorite. Never give him the red ones if you're out of orange. He hate those. Over Halloween I cleared out the entire Skittles section of a big store. I think it was Wegman's. But only the regular Skittles. I don't like the variations. I'd be there in person, but Brother Dearest has me on a short leash, which is actually an accomplishment for him. I hope you liked the angel statue, and enjoy the candy. Once again, Merry Christmas, and I plan on seeing you in a few._

_ -Judy_

This had quickly turned into the strangest Christmas ever, and it wasn't even an hour old yet. But all Dean could think about was the statue, and how he wanted to meet this Judy character. He peered into the stocking. It was filled to the brim with Skittles.


	10. Chapter 10

**I am so very sorry for the wait! I was kind of attacked by the last Harry Potter movie (sob), and couldn't focus on anything else for a while. But I'm back now, with more baby!cas. Don't kill me, please. **

**I wold like to give my thanks to everyone who has stuck with Castiel so far, especially those who followed the story and added this to their favorites.**

**Plus a big shout out to everyone who reviewed! The more reviews I get, the faster I write, (hint, hint)...**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Supernatural, season six would have ended ****very**** differently.**

* * *

><p>Castiel was about ten months old when he said his first word.<p>

The little family of misfit's were sitting at the kitchen table, when Cas whined from his high-chair. Sam stood up, "I think he's hungry." and went to get the baby some food.

But when Sam approached the little angel with a jar of liquefied carrots- Cas' favorites- he whined louder reaching towards the older Winchester, and then let out a loud, "De!" All three adults looked at him in surprise, so he tried again. "Deeeean!"

As the brother's just starred, Bobby laughed, and said, "Well, now we know who's his favorite." Dean smiled and took the food from Sam.

Cas' first birthday was quite a fiasco. It consisted of Dean yelling at Sam on the phone, Sam looking for the 'perfect' cake, Cas screaming "Deean! Deeean!" In the background, and Bobby laughing a them all.

When Sam located a satisfactory cake, he drove to the nearby toy store. He searched for about half an hour for the perfect gift before he found it, and smiled to himself. It wasn't something he had planned on getting, but when he saw it, he knew no other gift would be good enough for the Winchester's little angel.

He wrapped it in the car, and drove home. He was greeted at the door by Cas yelling, "Ammy!"

Sam smiled at the baby, he had recently learned Sam's name, but Den's version of it. And he always forgot the first letter. "Hey Cas!" He shouted back, and walked into the kitchen to stop dead in his tracks, only to burst out laughing.

Castiel was seated in his highchair, letting out little baby giggles. Dean was in the middle of the room, soaked, and dripping orange mush. "Shut up!" Sam just laughed louder.

"What happened to you?"

"Our little _angel_," Dean glared at Cas for emphasis, "threw his carrots at me."

Both Sam and Cas burst into another fit of giggles as Dean stormed out of the room, muttering darkly about 'damn angels always making messes', leaving a trail of orange in his wake. Sam went to get the mop. Bobby wouldn't be too happy if he slipped in baby food.

Suddenly, Balthazar appeared in the kitchen and picked up his brother. Sam jus uttered a, "Hey." before going back to cleaning up the mess.

Balthazar nodded at him, "Did Castiel make this mess?"

Sam smiled, "Yup. He threw his food at Dean."

Balthazar grinned evilly, "God job, Cassie!" Cas laughed again as his brother blew a loud raspberry on his belly. Dean walked back into the kitchen, now non-orange and dried off. He grimaced at the sight of the full grown angel and stalked over to the fridge to make his lunch.

"Did you get the cake, Sam?"

"Yeah...oh, I left it in the car- be right back!" Sam turned on his heels and dashed out in a flash to retrieve the cake before all the icing melted.

Balthazar turned to Dean, "Cake?"

"Uh-huh. It's Cas' birthday." Dean smiled at his infant friend. "He's one year old today."

"Already?" Balthazar looked honestly surprised, "Time passes so quickly here. It's remarkable, really...But what is the cake for?"

This was going to be fun. Dean got to explain the human ritual of a birthday party to an angel of the lord, while Sam was trying to decide on a place to set the cake down. Balthazar seemed to understand the concept of celebrating someone's birth, but was still confused as to why Castiel was having a party, "He wasn't even born, technically."

Dean just shook his head, "That's not the point. Everybody's got a birthday, so for Cas, we picked the day we got him."

"I see," Balthazar nodded, this made sense. In a weird, human sort of way, "But why are you giving him cake? Won't he just make a mess?"

"Exactly. It's fun."

Balthazar still looked skeptical. Humans were odd creatures, no doubt about it. He felt sorry for his little brother. He was going to be raised by them. And to make matters worse, he was being raised by three people deemed odd even by human standards.

* * *

><p>When Dean declared it cake time, Balthazar gave some bogus excuse about receiving a call for help from one of his soldiers, and left with a flurry a wing beats. It seemed like the all mighty angel was afraid of having cake thrown at him.<p>

Cas was strapped into his highchair with a tray on top of it. Bobby sat at the table, chuckling silently, as Sam and Dean tried to light the candle on the cake. Every time they lit it, a gust of wind would appear out of nowhere and put the small flame out. After about the tenth try, Dean noticed that Castiel was sporting a wicked grin.

"Cas!" Dean glared at his angel in mock anger, "Just what do you think you're doing?" the boys tried for several times more, before giving up, and just singing without having a lit candle.

As the three men started to sing, Cas looked confused at first, then started giggling, as if watching his family talk in sync was amusing. It probably was.

When they put the cake down on the tray in front of him, Cas eyed it skeptically. He had never eaten anything like this before, but the only thing Dean ever put on his tray was food. Castiel cautiously put one finger into the icing. The texture was weird, mushy, yet semi-solid at the same time. He slowly put his finger in his mouth.

Dean laughed as Cas' eyes grew to twice their normal size the moment the icing hit his taste buds. The baby looked accusingly at the cake for a moment, before deciding that the sugar over-load was in fact, _delicious_. The one-year-old then did something no one in the room had predicted. He opened his mouth wide, and fell forward, slamming his face into the cake. _I think he likes it,_ Dean though, quite a bit of sarcasm in his inner dialogue

About an hour after Castiel finished with his cake, Sam had finally excavated Bobby's kitchen from underneath the blizzard of icing a lumps of cake.

He walked into the living room where Dean and Bobby were sitting with the now bathed and icing-free angel. He was playing with the little toy car Dean had given him, pushing it up and across Dean's scrunched up face. Sam gave Cas his present, and watched as Dean 'helped' the little guy open it.

Dean looked at Sam curiously when the present was unwrapped. It was a teddy bear.

But not just any bear. This one was as soft as a duckling, and was pure white, with golden wings and a halo. It was an angel bear. Cas held his new toy to scrutinize it, before smiling and biting one of the bear's ears.

Dean shook his head. Leave it to Sam to get a girl's toy. But Cas seemed to like it, so it was alright. He went to rip the tags attached to the ear Cas wasn't bitting off, but stopped for a moment when he noticed on of them was a name tag. Dean read it, then sat stunned for a minute, looking at his grinning brother.

The bear's name was Gabriel.


	11. Chapter 11

**My sincere apologies for the wait. I promise to be quicker with the updates in the future. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.**

** Now on with the show!**

Gabriel soon became Castiel's best friend.

At one and a half, Cas was crawling, and was always attempting to stand by grabbing onto pieces of furniture, and lifting himself up, only to let go in excitement and fall to the ground again. Instead of crying, when this happened, he would glare at the offending piece of furniture as if it had dropped him, before getting a look of determination and repeating the cycle all over again. Dean thought it was hysterical.

When he wasn't trying to stand, Cas would attempt to crawl and carry his bear at the same time. This resulted in his holding Gabriel's arm in one hand, and crawling on all three's instead of all four's, the angel bear dragging behind him. The process was extremely slow and clumsy looking. Sam thought it was adorable.

While attempting to get around the newly baby-proofed house, Castiel would babble to himself. His vocabulary was slowly improving, and he seemed to be a bit of a show off. He was currently crawling with Gabriel across the living room towards Dean.

Dean took pity on him, and scooped the little angel up, bear and all. Cas cackled with clear, light laughter. Dean then began to tickle the child who began to squeal, "Ammy! Ammy, 'elp me!" Sam ran into the room, then laughed aloud at Castiel's predicament. Cas tied to scowl at the younger Winchester, but seeing as how he was being tickled, he could d nothing but laugh.

Sam finally took mercy on the angel, and wrestled him out of Dean's grasp. Cas laughed, with glee this time, and hugged Sam tightly around the neck. "Your welcome, Cas."

Cas smiled shyly, "Tank you." Sam and Dean just laughed again.

Jkjkjk

Shortly after Castiel's second birthday, Dean left him for the first time. A friend of his had called, who needed help with a demon problem. Dean suggested Sam, or maybe Bobby. The friend had said they could come along as well, but they only trusted Dean. Dean wanted to protest, but he couldn't turn down a friend in need, and he definitely couldn't tell them that he was busy angel-sitting. So, for the first time in two years, Dean was heading out on a hunting trip.

Bobby was going with him for back-up, and Sam was left alone with Castiel. Dean had patiently explained to Cas the night before that he was going to go on a little trip, but would be back in a few days. At the time, Cas was okay with it, and had nodded before being wrestled into his bed. Both Sam and Dean thought that Cas might not even notice or care that Dean was gone.

The were _very_ wrong.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Cas woke up before Sam. He crawled out of bed, and ran down the hallway to Dean's room. He swung open the door, and climbed up on the bed. Just like every morning. There was only one problem: Dean wasn't there. Castiel's face scrunched up in confusion. Dean was always here. He <em>never<em> woke up before Cas. Sam and Dean had not accounted for a two-year-old's attention span when they had told him about Dean's trip. Cas didn't pay attention to any of the conversation. All he knew was that Dean was not where he was supposed to be. Time for plan two. Castiel opened him mouth and let out a banshee-like wail.

Sam came running into the room, "Cas!" Castiel appeared to be fine, he was just sitting on Dean's bed, screaming his head off. "Hey, buddy. What's wrong?" He scooped up Cas and held him close.

"Dean! There no Dean!"

Sam let out a huff of air. "It's okay, Castiel. Dean went out. He will be back soon, okay?"

Cas nodded slowly, and stopped screaming. "Sammy?"

"Yes, Cas?"

"I has pancake?"

Sam laughed, "Yeah, Cas. You can have pancakes. Come on." the two of them, Castiel still in Sam's arms, headed to the kitchen.

The rest of the day was spent with Sam trying to distract Cas. He was doing this because whenever the toddler had time to think, he would ask when Dean was coming back. Sam would always reply with, "Soon."

That night, Sam had Castiel sleep in his bed. Sam told himself that it was to keep an eye on the little guy, and stop him from looking for Dean in the middle of the night. But if he was honest with himself, he would have admitted that he was nervous without his brother in the house.

In the morning, Cas woke up and calmly roused Sam. "Dean back?"

"Sorry bud. Dean's not back yet." This was going to be a long day.

Castiel just glared at Sam as if the whole thing was somehow his fault. It was the long lost 'I am and angel of the lord and I will smite you' look. Dean was usually the one on the receiving end of that infamous glare, not Sam. It was a little unnerving, actually. Especially coming from a two year old.

That glare stayed in place the entire day. Castiel did not speak a single word. He ignored Sam completely, and spent the day with Gabriel.

The next day, Castiel was even angrier. He wanted Dean, and if Sam knew what was good for him, he'd go get his brother. The toddler was fuming. Years later, Sam would swear to anyone who would listen that you could actually see the smoke.

Around noontime, Sam cautiously approached the little angel on the couch, "Hey, Cas. What do you want for lunch?" Castiel continued to ignore him, as if he truly believed the whole ordeal could be pinned on Sam. "Castiel."

Cas snapped his head toward Sam with the 'I will smite you' look on full blast. Sam took a step backwards. "Me want Dean."

"Cas, I told you-"

"Me want DEAN!" and then Castiel, angel of the lord, threw his first temper tantrum. He jumped off the couch, abandoning his friend, and started screaming his head off. Some off the words were coherent, such as Dean, and mine. Also 'now' was heard a lot. But mostly, it was just caterwauling. He was stomping his feet and clenched his hands into fists. Sam backed off a little, completely out of fear. After a minute or two, Cas swung his right arm, as if to punch someone, and a glint of silver was suddenly visible. Sam ducked sharply, and good thing he did, because not more than a second after he hit the floor, a _whack_ was heard on the wall behind him.

Sam stood cautiously, Cas had stopped wailing, and was instead starring with curiosity and surprise at the wall behind Sam. Sam turned around with a knot of apprehension in his stomach. When he saw what had struck the wall, his jaw dropped. He actually felt a little faint.

The force of the impact had lodged the object into the wall itself, with the end buried inside, and only the gleaming silver handle visible. Sam couldn't believe his eyes. Somehow, in his rage, Castiel had summoned his angelic blade. It was silver and gleaming, and currently driven straight through the drywall.

Cas was starring at his newly acquired weapon, a huge grin across his tiny face. It seemed his anger at Sam was forgotten in the discovery of his blade. The pair were standing in the living room, simply staring at Castiel's blade, practically hypnotized by the glare bouncing off it.

The deathly silence was broken by the sound off a car door slamming outside. Sam blinked, and Cas ran to the door. Less than a minute after, Cas called out in joy, "Dean!"

"Hey Cas! Did you have fun with Sammy?"

"Sammy no fun. Miss you, Dean."

"I missed you too, bud. Where's Sam?" Dean walked into the living room, Bobby in tow. Castiel was clinging to dean as if he would never see him again. Dean thought it was adorable, and was smiling down at the angel before he looked up at Sam, only to notice his brother's gaze locked on the wall. Dean glanced over to see what his Sammy was starring at. Then, so much like his brother, his mouth popped open in shock. "Sam? Is that what I think it is?" Sam just nodded, unable to speak. After all, Cas almost took his head off. "Well, then...shit."

Sam let out a breath, "Don't you _ever_ leave him alone again."

All Dean could do was nod.


	12. Chapter 12

** Writers block, I will sick a Hell Hound on you. So if you know what's good for you, you'll leave me alone.**

** Thank you to all my awesome reviewers. I love hearing you reactions to little Castiel, and they just make me want to hug all of you. But since I can't hug you through the internet, I will instead reward you with more baby!cas.**

About halfway through October, Dean decided that they were going to celebrate Halloween that year. For the first two years of Castiel's second life, Dean had absolutely refused the holiday, insisting that Cas had to be older to enjoy it properly. The misfit family of four sat in the living room, watching Castiel attempt to feed Gabriel various imaginary foods. Out of no where, Dean turned to his brother.

"Hey Sam..."

"Yes, Dean?"

"Let's ask Cas what he wants to be for Halloween."

Bobby huffed, mock scorn on his voice, "So you finally decided on letting the poor kid celebrate the holiday?"

Sam laughed, "Poor? This kid is more spoiled than a prince." He gestured to the mountains of toys littering the house.

Bobby laughed, "Good point. So what do you think he's going to be?"

Sam and Bobby sat there thinking about the two and a half year old's options, and Dean called Castiel over. "Do you know what Halloween is, bud?" Cas shook his head, so Dean tried to explain, "Well, on Halloween, you get to dress up as anything or anyone you want, and you go to every house, and the people who live there have to give you candy,"

Castiel's eyes grew wide, "Candy?"

Dean smiled, "Yup, and all you have to do to get it is say 'trick-or-treat.'"

The toddler smirked slightly, Sam winced. For an angel, he sure acted quite demon-like. Cas, now smirking like he knew the answers to everything in life, said very calmly, "Twick-or-tweat."

Dean laughed, causing Cas to frown, "Sorry, angel, it only works on Halloween."

Said angel thought about this for a moment, before smiling again, "Kay. When Hawo-ween?"

Sam laughed, and answered for his brother, "In two weeks. So, what are you going to dress up as, Cas?"

The blue eyed child frowned a little, and thought about it for a moment, before he broke out into a full grin, and exclaiming, "Batman!"

Sam and Dean burst into uncontrollable laughter, and Cas looked confused as to why his care-takers thought his costume choice to be so funny. Bobby shook his head at the Winchester brothers and mutter an affectionate, "Idjits," rolling his eyes.

Halloween rolled around rather quickly. Castiel was bouncing with excitement, which was making it difficult for Dean to put the Batman outfit on him. When Cas was dressed, he ran over to Sam, begging the man to hurry up. Dean chuckled quietly at the angel. He was dressed identically to Batman, cape and all, with his electric eyes standing out sharply against the black mask.

When both Sam and Dean had gotten there shoes on, Cas tried to run out of the door. Dean called him back, "And what are you going to carry the candy with?"

Castiel stopped dead in his tracks and flicked his gaze around the room, trying to find an appropriate container. Dean laughed and handed him a little pumpkin look-alike bucket. Cas grinned, and ran for the door, the Winchesters doing there best to keep up. Bobby was staying behind to give out candy to any kids courageous enough to brave the junk yard.

After dragging the Winchester boys to every house within sight for three hours straight, Castiel started to yawn. The little bucket was completely full, and it was weighing him down. Dean smiled at the little boy, "Tired, Cas?"

"No." he then yawned loudly, betraying himself. He rubbed his eyes, and tried to act awake. He did _not_ want to go home.

Dean tried to hide his smirk, "Okay, well I am. Why don't we go home now?" Castiel looked ready to object, so Sam cut him off.

"When we get back, you can eat your candy."

Cas smiled sleepily, "Okay, Sammy."

Sam reached out for the bucket, which Cas gladly handed over. Dean scooped up the exhausted two year old, and the started the trek back to Bobby's house. Castiel was fast asleep long before they got there.

**I'm really sorry that this chapter was so short. Forgive me?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! And guess what? There are now 100 people following this story! I'm completely shocked. I had no idea that this story would become this popular, and I am so grateful to all of you readers.**

** Now back to the story**

Castiel was almost four when _it_ happened.

The little angel was watching some cartoon in the living room, Sam was attempting to cook diner, Dean was making fun of Sam, and Bobby was trying to tidy up Cas' mountains of toys scattered all over his house.

That was when a strange woman walked into the kitchen, Castiel on her hip, grinning on a fool. She had bright orange hair, and bright green eyes, and looked to be in her early twenties. She wore a sweater with the word 'zero' emblazed across it, and faded blue jeans. When she entered the kitchen, she smiled excitedly, "Hey, boys!"

Sam froze in his tracks. Dean leaped up from his chair, and eyed the stranger with fear and apprehension. Bobby ran into the room, having heard the strange voice. It was Dean who found his voice first, "Who the hell are you?"

Sam was trying to remember where he put his gun, Bobby was inching towards the holy water flask on the counter. The woman laughed out loud, "Sorry. Guess I should introduce myself, huh?" She saw Bobby's movement, and laughed again. "There's no need for that. I'm Castiel's sister."

"That doesn't exactly reassure us." Sam couldn't help but remember all the angels that tried to kill them. Not to mention the ones currently trying to kill Cas, who was clinging to the mystery angel and smiling.

"No, it's cool. I'm the fun sister." She, if possible, grinned even more, "Name's Jhudiel. Judy, for short."

Sam gaped at her. Dean's eyes grew to twice their normal size, "_You're _Judy?"

"Yupperz." She put Cas down, and the toddler did not look happy about that at all. She ignored his protest and reached into her pocket, pulling out a handful of skittles that she quickly poured into her mouth, "Want some?"

Sam finally managed to speak, "No, thanks." He looked at Castiel, who was holding onto Jhudiel's leg. "Why is he so attached to you?"

She looked at him with a Balthazar-like 'why are you so stupid' glare, "I'm his sister."

Bobby cut in, "But he doesn't remember anything."

"Yes, but he's also an angel. He can tell his siblings apart from strangers. And besides," her grin returned, "I was always his favorite." Judy reached into her pocket again and handed the skittles to Cas, who gladly took them. "Go play, Cassie. I'm not going anywhere."

Cas scurried back into the living room, and Judy waltzed over to the kitchen table, and plopped down into a chair. She looked very comfy. Bobby sat at the chair opposite her, and Sam leaned against the counter. Dean just stood in the middle of the room. They all stared at each other; the three hunters not quite sure what to say, and the angel eating yet another handful of skittles.

Bobby broke the silence, "If you're Castiel's favorite, then why have we never met you?"

Jhudiel nodded to herself, "Well, he was always the protective older brother. I've sort of been on lock down since the whole end-of-the-world thing started."

Sam looked puzzled, "Lock down?"

"Well, not literally. I could go wherever I wanted, but was on strict orders not to have contact with any of my siblings, or humans on their pay roll. Most of my brothers think I'm dead. Which is probably the way big bro over there wanted it." She gestured to the living room.

Now Dean was confused, "Cas is your big brother?"

"Not by much. A day, actually."

Now Dean was completely lost, "What?"

Judy shook her head at his stupidity, "Need I introduce myself again? I thought you people knew your angels. That there is Castiel, angel of Thursday. Hello, my name is Jhudiel, the angel of Friday. Nice to meet you." She then emphasized her point by pulling yet _another_ mouthful of skittles out of her pocket. Sam was starting to think the pocket had no bottom.

Another voice was heard very close to Dean, who turned on his heels only to come face to face with Balthazar, "Jhudiel, what do you think you're doing here?"

Judy didn't even flinch. Instead, she just ate another skittle.

"Jhudiel."

And another.

"JHUDIEL!"

Yet one more.

"I _will_ cut off your candy supply."

Judy huffed, and pouted, before turning to Balthazar, "Yes, brother of mine?"

"What are you doing here?" Balthazar was starting to look very annoyed. Dean thought this was hysterical. But there was no way in hell he was ever going to tell anyone that, especially Balthazar.

"Oh, nothing much. Just thought I'd stop by. Say hello to Cassie."

Dean, unwisely, cut off Balthazar's retort, "What's with the Cassie thing? I thought angels hated nicknames."

"Oh, most do." Judy answered. "But, since our names are always so difficult to pronounce, it makes saying them when we are little a tad bit difficult. The first time Castiel tried to say his name, it came out as 'Cassie,' and some of us like to get on his nerves." This made sense, and Balthazar looked ready to go back to lecturing his sister, but then she began to rant.

"We all make fun of each other's pronunciations. Balthazar called himself 'Balthy.' And Michael said 'mel-el.' Lucifer came out as 'Lufy.'" Dean and Sam were holding in laughter, but she was far from finished. "Uriel was 'yur.' Gabriel was 'Gab-will.' And Raphael was 'Ruffle.'"

At this, the Winchester boys could hold it no loner. Bobby sniggered a little. Balthazar was fuming, and Cas ran back into the room. Jhudiel took that as an opportunity to make her escape. "I have to go Cassie. See you later, okay?" Cas nodded, and Judy pointed to her much older brother. "Look, Balthy's here." Cas jumped on his brother, and Jhudiel vanished with a flutter of wings.

Dean finally managed to contain his laughter, "I like her." Balthazar glared at him. "What? I do."


	14. Chapter 14

**I apologize for the wait. Please don't kill me! Pretty please? My computer broke, and I just managed to get it fixed now, so this chapter is up literally ASAP.**

**Haven't done this in a while, so…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural, so don't sue me. Even if you did, you wouldn't get much out of me.**

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"I said no, Judy." The aforementioned angel pouted, and then disappeared with a small flutter. Dean huffed in frustration, then turned to see his brother Sam watching him curiously. "She wanted to take Cas to Antarctica for today. To see the penguins." The hunter rolled his eyes.

Sam blinked in astonishment, before giving himself a small shake. The energetic angel in the body of a college girl in her early twenties was always showing up at odd hours during the day with rather ridiculous requests. For example, two days ago she asked if she could take her brother Castiel to swim with the sharks. As in wild sharks. In the _ocean_. Balthazar wasn't very happy about Jhudiel's constant presence in Bobby's house. Turns out, even angels can get jealous when it's a matter of their siblings affection. In fact, that seemed to explain the apocalypse. It was nothing more but a cry for attention from their older brothers.

Castiel was playing in the living room with his older brother, 'Balth-ar.' Dean normally gave into Judy's radical suggestions, but they were getting wilder by the day and Dean was nothing if not protective. Sam remembered that when he was five, Dean snapped at anyone who even got _near_ him. With her dangerous ideas of fun, it was a miracle on its own that the orange-haired angel was still breathing and not laying on the floor with Castiel's angel blade protruding from her chest. After the third time the little angel almost impaled one of his family members, human and angel alike, Dean had managed to wrestle the blade from the whining toddler, and gave it to Bobby to lock it in an angel-proof safe, inside the panic room, in the locked basement. Knowing the deadly weapon was out of the monsters reach made it so much easier to sleep at night.

"Dean?" little Cas ran into the over cluttered kitchen where Bobby was attempting to make lunch. Sam was on his laptop, and Dean was starring off into space.

Not anymore. "Yeah, bud?"

"What's school?' _oh, shit._

Dean gulped. Sam's keyboard clacking halted. Bobby froze. Balthazar smirked from the doorway, thinking this would be fun to watch. "School?" Castiel nodded eagerly, "Well…It's um…um…Sam?" The younger Winchester shot his brother a glare.

"It's where kids go to learn…things." Sam said hesitantly. He didn't like the look on Castiel's face. The last time the angel had that thoughtful look, he had convinced Dean to buy a play set for the backyard.

"Oh." Cas stood still for a moment, lost in thought. Sam could practically see the wheels turning. _There's no way he was this smart before_. It seems being raised by humans worked wonders on angels. "Then why don't I go?"

Balthazar's smirk fell right of his face. "I have to – bye." He was gone before any one of the hunters could protest.

Dean looked at Bobby for help, who shook his head, "He's your kid. Not my problem."

Sam almost laughed at that. Almost.

"Do – do you want to…go to school?"

Cas nodded with enthusiasm. Dean looked at his brother, who shrugged.

Dean sat for a moment, a look of painful concentration across his face. After an agonizingly long moment Dean spoke slowly, "Okay. You can go, Cas." The child jumped for joy and let out a small laugh. Before he could run back to sitting on the couch with his bear Gabriel, Dean continued, "But you need to listen to me, okay?"

The five year old nodded seriously, bright eyes burning into Dean's.

"You know how Balthazar and Judy do some weird stuff?" Dean waited for Castiel to nod, "You can't tell anyone about that. It's very import that you don't tell _anyone_ about your brother and sister. Understand, buddy?"

Cas looked ready to question it, but just shrugged and nodded. Dean smiled with relief.

* * *

><p>One week later, Sam, Dean, and Castiel stood outside an elementary school. It was Cas' first day of Kindergarten, and to say that Dean was having a panic attack would have been a major understatement. The older Winchester looked to be on the verge of a heart attack. Sam was doing his best not to laugh at him, while Cas bounced up and down with excitement.<p>

Dean managed to calm the boy down long enough to give him one final drill. Sam shook his head, but his brother plowed on, "You remember everything I told you?" Castiel nodded vigorously. "Are you sure? What's your name?"

"Castiel Winchester – but I just go by Cas."

"Where do your parents work?"

"My dad's a mechanic, and my mom's a lawyer."

Sam grimaced. Why did _he_ have to be the mom? Dean was the one with the over bearing mama-bear persona.

"Any brothers or sisters?"

"Nope."

"And what's up with that coat?"

"It was my Uncle Adam's. He gave it me."

The coat in question was lime green and five sizes to big for Cas. But when they had spotted it in a thrift store, the angel _insisted_ on getting it. Sam tried to talk him out of it, but Castiel wouldn't budge. After more than twenty minutes haggling with the persistent child, Dean just went ahead and bought it anyway, ignoring Sam's logical reasoning that the coat _wouldn't fit_. Dean never really cared about the reason behind it, but Sam thought that somewhere in the far reaches of his mind, Castiel remembered some things, because it reminded Sam of grown Castiel's trademark trench coat. Either way it didn't matter, but Dean's paranoia had him convinced someone would ask why a kid was wearing an adult's coat. If you asked Sam, this whole thing was utter rubbish and they should just let the kid go to class.

It's not even like Dean had the opportunity to be paranoid about Supernatural happenings in the building. Both Winchesters had gone there yesterday and preformed every monster test known to hunter. Besides, what did Dean think the teacher was going to do, interrogate the kid? Teachers only did that if they thought a student looked like they were in trouble. Cas was the image of health and happiness. His eyes were practically glowing.

"Dean, just let the kid go."

The hunter glared at him brother, but then Castiel gave him those damn puppy eyes, and how could Dean say no? "Alright, alright. Come here, angel."

Cas gave Dean an overly enthusiastic hug, then ran by Sam, slapping him a high five as he went. As the blue-eyed angel ran into his new class room, Sam and Dean watched on, praying to every god they knew that the kid wouldn't accidentally smite his teacher.


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay, my beloved readers, listen up. I have two things to say really quick. First, I have a question; would you like for me to resurrect Gabriel (the angel, not Cas' bear)? I am really on the fence about that one, and I figured I'd let you guys decide. **

**Second, I have a present for ya'll. The hundredth reviewer gets to make a request. Whether it's for something you want to happen in this story, or an entire new plot altogether, it's all good. So, if you shoot me a review, and you just so happen to be number one hundred, I'll PM you to ask what your request is.**

**And now back to the story...**

* * *

><p>Chapter 15.<p>

Cas stood in the open door way of the kindergarten classroom, mouth hanging open. There were just _so many kids_ here. The little angel had never spent time with people his own age before, and had been looking forward to his first day of school. Now, though, surrounded by his fellow five-year-olds, he was starting to have second thoughts.

Maybe Dean was right. Maybe he wasn't ready. After all, the only human interaction he'd ever had been Sammy, Dean, Bobby, and his siblings. And young though he might be, Cas wasn't stupid. So he knew that both Judy and Balthazar weren't exactly 'normal.' But then, Cas didn't think anyone in his family was normal, him especially. From what he had seen from television shows, other kids didn't cause electricity to short-circuit when they cried. Other kids didn't have silver, anger-triggered, swords. And other kids didn't have a family with names like Castiel, Jhudiel, and Balthazar.

But, once again, Cas wasn't stupid. He trusted Dean if nothing else. His entire life, Dean had never let him down, never put him in danger. Whenever Cas needed help, Dean was just..._ there_. Sure it was easy to sucker Dean into giving the kid what he wanted, but only when what he wanted was safe, only when it was, as Bobby liked to put it, 'idjit proof.' So if Dean let Cas go to school, that that must mean that school is safe. So Cas squared his tiny shoulders, pulled his over-sized coat around him more securely, then walked into the room.

He went unnoticed at first, as most of the other kids were attempting to hang up their jackets and bags in a little cubby space in the back corner. Those who had already done so were either running around the room exploring, or fighting over prime seating. It seemed like the girls liked to sit right up to the board, while most boys tried to sit in the corners. Cas stood completely still in the middle of the room, head cocked to one side, as it often automatically did whenever he thought. Common sense said go sit with the boys and just blend in like Dean told him to. But the girls were intriguing. Cas had never met a girl other than Judy, and he had a feeling he shouldn't use her as a touchstone for girl behavior. Sammy always said that he was too curious for his own good.

Luckily, a mixed table had just formed. Two girls were sitting on one side, with a boy on the other. Sitting there would be acceptable enough, then they'd be even. Cas made a beeline for the empty chair, practically throwing his batman bag into an empty cubby hole along the way. "Can I sit here?"

The three kids looked at him, and one of the girls smiled, "Sure. Ya know ya can take your jacket off, right?"

Cas pulled his jacket tighter, sitting down, "I'd like to keep it on, thanks."

The girl shrugged, "Alrighty. My name's Emma. And this is Ashley and..."

"Mark," the other, pale, ginger boy supplied, "What's your name?"

"Cas."

Mark smiled at him, but before he could say anything, Ashley, a short brunette, cut them off, "Cas? That's a funny name." Emma, a slightly taller blonde, glared at her friend. "Well, it is."

It seemed like Ashley shared Judy's habit of being alarmingly honest. Maybe it was a girl thing. Ether way didn't really matter; it's not like she upset him. In all honesty, Cas agreed with her, his name was weird.

A few minutes go by with the four kids discussing what Dean would call 'safe' topics; cartoons, pets, toys, and the like. Then their teacher managed to expel the last paranoid parent. "Hello class, my name is Mrs. Rosen," she said, shutting the door. Cas gulped. If Dean had managed to teach him one thing, it was to never get too comfortable, to always, _always_ have an exit. "So, today, I guess we'll just take attendance, then I'll go over the rules."

She smiled at them, and most of the kids smiled back. A few, though, seemed nervous now that their parents were no longer there. Mrs. Rosen swept her gaze over the classroom, stopping at Cas, "Go hang your coat up, sweetie."

That was clearly an order. And although he wanted to leave his coat on, he distinctly remembered Dean telling him to do whatever the teacher told him to. And Cas always did what Dean said, even when it didn't make much sense. Like when Dean caught him trying to go down into the basement. He had looked Cas in the eye and told him in a tone that left no room for argument, that he was _never_ to go down there. So Cas never did. And so Cas stood up and placed his jacket in the same cubby as his bag, before sitting back in his seat for attendance.

The teacher would call out a name that she red off a little list, and the child whom that name belonged to would call out "here." When Mrs. Rosen called out "Castiel," Cas felt the need to correct her.

"Here. But, it's just Cas."

She smiled and made a note on her paper.

* * *

><p>Dean sat on the hood of his Impala, starring anxiously at the door of the school. It was 3:30, and Cas was about to get out from his first day of school. Dean had been a nervous wreck all day. So many thins could go wrong. The other kids could pick on him, or he could say something he shouldn't or hurt somebody. If Cas had an angel moment around other kids it would spell disaster. Despite having locked up his sword, Dean knew firsthand that angels had other forms of attacking their enemies.<p>

One time, a little over a year ago, Cas had fallen down the last few steps. He had screamed and cried, and almost all te lights in the house exploded. The last thing the Winchesters needed wasfor a similar event to happen in public.

Not to mention that Cas didn't have the best people skills. After all, he had only been around five people his entire life. Bobby wasn't exactly god with little kids, and two of them weren't even human. It didn't help that Sam and Dean were almost polar opposites when it came to Cas, with Dean smothering and protecting his little angel, while Sam was trying to teach him as much about the world that he could.

If some one had told Dean five years ago that he would be stressing over an angels first day of school, he would have poured holy water on them. Yet here he was, a nervous wreck, waiting for the doors to open. Without warning, they burs open, and a torrent of children streamed out. Dean let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding when he say Cas running towards him with a grin on his face.

"Hey, angel. How'd it go?"

"Good." Cas slid into the backseat "We get a hour half hour on the play ground everyday! And they have really good cheeseburgers in the cafeteria."

"They do, huh?" Dean started the car, an idea forming in his mind. "What do you think about a surprise for dinner?"

Cas cocked his head, "Okay."

Later that day, Dean managed to stop Judy before she pitched her latest plot to entertain her brother. When he told her his idea, she smirked. "Of course I can get that. Don't you trust me?" Then she disappeared with a wink.

Dean rubbed his eyes. That girl could drain the life right out of anyone. Sam walked into the kitchen, Cas on his hip,"I thought I heard Judy...Where did she go?"

"To get dinner."

Sam raised an eyebrow at his brother, who just smiled, and said, "You'll understand in a minute. Sit down."

Almost the second they located Bobby, and convinced him to sit down with them, Judy reappeared, clutching bags bearing terrifyingly familiar logos. She sat down and began to hand out small bundles from inside the bag. Bobby began unwrapping his while watching Dean curiously. Jhudiel looked amused, and she piled package after package onto Castiel's plate. Sam was wearing an expression of pure terror, whilst Dean was smirking.

Cas unwrapped one of the objects, his eyes flicking to Dean for some sort of explanation. The thing that has Sammy so worked up was a _cheeseburger_ of all things. But when no one explained, Cas shrugged, then took a bite, not noticing how intently he was being watch by his family.

His eyes grew wide. _This was the best thing he had ever tasted!_ It was perfection. He finished the first burger with surprising speed for someone his age, and quickly tore open the a second wrapper; Judy had given him plenty. He was so absorbed in his new-found heaven, that he didn't hear Sammy's groan, and Bobby's laugh. He didn't see Judy's smirk. The only thing that he heard was Dean's rather odd comment, "Now _that's _the angel I knew."

"_Dean_."

"Come on, Sammy, you know you forget sometimes, too."

Cas tipped his head to the side. He had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. But, he figured it wasn't important. Because Dean would never lie to him. And Sammy was just just a bad liar. So he turned his attention back to the burger, "What is this?" he managed to ask between over sized bites.

Dean's grin lit up the room. "That, my angel, is White Castle."

It was official, White Castle was the greatest thing on Earth. At least as far as Cas was concerned.

**So, what did you think? And should Gabriel make a comeback? Let me know, please! **


	16. Chapter 16

**Reviews are like specialized crack for writers. And the thing is, you people have gotten me addicted. So I need more, or I'll go into shock and won't be able to write anymore…**

Chapter 16.

Castiel had actually made it into first grade before anything remotely apocalyptic happened. The scary thing was, Dean was genuinely caught off guard. It seemed that the six years of calm and relative peace had allowed him to do something a Winchester should never do: get lulled into a sense of security.

Everything was calm. Dean was watching TV with Cas. Sam was fiddling with something on his laptop. Bobby was reading some book or another. And then, suddenly, without any warning, Balthazar was in their living room, accompanied by Jhudiel.

Dean didn't give them a passing glance, until he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Castiel's deer-in-the-headlights look. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw then.

Balthazar was swaying unsteadily, being all but carried by his sister. He was fighting a constant battle with his eye lids, forcing them open only for them to slowly slide back shut. Something was dripping down his arm, dripping onto the floor. _Blood.__Balthazar__was__bleeding._

Dean starred in shock for a moment, unsure of what he should do. And for one horrible second, he just watched as Balthazar's eyes slid shut again, and the angel didn't pry them back open. In that moment, he wasn't Dean Winchester. He was just Dean, and his kid's brother was passing out, losing blood.

And then the moment passed.

Dean leaped to his feet, pulling Sam and Bobby pit of their own little worlds, back to the suddenly frightening reality. Sam jumped up to, and immediately went to help Judy lower her brother to the ground. Bobby ran over to the door that hadn't been opened in six years. The door that lead to the basement, and then down to the panic room.

Without thinking, Dean scooped the still frozen Cas up in his arms and followed the rest of the family down the stairs, and into the iron room. As frightened as he was, the little angel couldn't help but look around. He had never been in the basement before, and now he knew why. This room had a certain feel about it, almost as if it was a cage. And to be honest, Cas was slightly claustrophobic.

But right now, he didn't care. All that mattered was that Balthazar was hurt. His brother was hurt, and he was bleeding. Not only that, but he was asleep. Balthazar had never fallen asleep before.

Dean had never panicked like this before, either.

Dean set him down in a small chair in the corner, and then hurried back over to the cot in the middle of the room. The cot Balthazar was on, lying on his stomach, with a dark red stain near one of his shoulders. "Judy, what happened?"

She didn't answer, starring at her sibling, horror struck.

"JUDY!"

That seemed to snap her out of her shocked state, but was now shaking, speaking slowly, as if she couldn't remember how to use words, "We – we were ambushed. There were too many…so many. But I – we – we got away…"

Castiel didn't understand any of this. Someone had attacked his brother and sister, that was for sure. But, considering how fast they could move, the things they could do, he didn't think it was possible for anyone to actually hurt them. But, apparently, someone _was_ quick enough.

And truthfully, the idea scarred him.

Sam was talking as calmly as possible, as if he was afraid of sending Jhudiel into even further shock, "Where was he hurt?"

At this simple question, Judy's face lost whatever colors it had left, "His w-wing… I had to carry him here." She seemed to be on the verge of tears. Castiel had never been more confused in his life. What did she mean, 'his wing?' Balthazar didn't have wings.

And yet… the moment he thought about it, wings seemed to materialize out of thin air, extending from Balthazar's back, just about where the shoulder blades were.

They were not exactly feathered, though certainly seemed soft anyway. They had no color, but rather seemed to be a swirl of colors together. The overall appearance came off as a tawny sort of brown, with random flashes of other colors when he starred at a specific spot, much like a giant living mosaic. Cas had to admit, they were beautiful. At least, most of them.

For, near the base of the left wing, there was a sort of tear, where the color was gone. As if a chunk of color had been carved out. Now Cas understood. Balthazar wasn't bleeding at all. It was an illusion, something his mind put there so he could comprehend what was happening without seeing the wings. But that was okay, because he could see them now.

He looked over at his sister. She had wings too! They were also made of light, and flashes of color, but for her, they gave the overall appearance of white. He couldn't help but glance over his own shoulder, and let out a small gasp when he realized that he had wings as well. They were much smaller than his sibling's, which seemed to fill the room, but instead were tucked neatly against his back, as if they were scared to move. Their appearance was black. Castiel didn't realize that light could be black, but here the proof was, right in front of him.

But that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that his brother was hurt, and by the looks on everyone's faces, they couldn't do anything about it.

And then, a miracle happened.

A sudden flash of light, and Balthazar's wing was completely healed, more swirls of brown light filling in the place once occupied by the hole. Both Cas and Judy looked around in surprise, and then Judy's mouth grew into a smile that grew wider by the second.

Standing in the corner was another person, one who hadn't been there before. He seemed familiar somehow, as if Cas had met him when he was very young and had forgotten. He watched, incredulous, as Judy ran over, letting out a squeal of laughter, and enveloped the stranger into a bone-crushing hug.

And then Cas realized that the stranger had wings. His swirled around, forming a near-blue white, like a robin's egg.

At Judy's yell, the three men looked up from the now stirring Balthazar, mouths hanging open when the saw the stranger in the corner. So they knew him, too.

Dean blinked once, and then twice. After gaping like a fish for a moment, Sam came to the rescue, "GABRIEL?"

"Hey there, kiddo."

**Duh, duh, duh! He lives!**

**Review, for me?**


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